Welcome

This website is brought to you in association with the Barrow-in-Furness Branch of the Submariners Association and is the premier UK internet resource for Submariners and anyone interested in Royal Navy Submarines.

Vickers and Barrow are names synonymous with the development of the submarine. Hundreds of submarines covering virtually every class have been built for the Royal Navy and foreign Navies. This site is dedicated to not only to those who have served on Her Majesty's Submarines but also to those employees past and present whose skills and efforts have given pride to the phrase 'Barrow built' and made the name Vickers known and respected throughout the world.

On This Day -

1898	Rosario 1898 - 1921	Laid down

1904	Umpire (N 82)	Laid Down

1910	C 37 (I 67)	Launched

1914	E 18 (I 98)	Laid Down

1915	E 33	Laid Down

1915	E 47	Laid Down

1915	E 48	Laid Down

1917	K 4	Completed

1918	H 52	Laid Down

1931	Sturgeon (N 73) / Zeehond (Dutch)	Laid Down

1945	Statesman (P 246)	HMS Statesman sinks fous small Japanese vessels with gunfire north-east of Sumatra.

1945	Thorough (P 324)	HMS Thorough sinks a Japanese sailing vessel with gunfire of the west coast of Siam.

1979	Forth (F04) 1938 - 1978	Decommissioned

Lastest Comments

31/12/2025 on page Unruly (P 49)
Prue Hames wrote:
	My Father served on HMS Unruly - Able Seaman John Smith DSM

05/12/2025 on page The History Of British Submarine Sonars
Alan Moore wrote:
	The interim sonar prior to 2046 was 2061 not 2062. I worked on 2031z and 2061 between 1985 & 1987 at ARE Portland North. If I looked up from my desk I had a great view of a portion of Portland Harbour and lots of Weymouth Bay.

30/11/2025 on page Affray (P 421)
richard lacey wrote:
	Not sure that a raised periscope and radar indicate a dived situation, as on my sub, they were always raised on the surface; otherwise, they could not be used

17/11/2025 on page P 222
Grace Absolom wrote:
	Richard William Absolom is my grandfather. He was my dad\'s father. My dad was 3 years old when the P222 disappeared. We often talk about what might have happened.

10/11/2025 on page Thorn (N 11)
Stuart Newland wrote:
	My uncle, John Leonard Newland went down on the Thorn. My dad was only about 6 when it happened but he still lays a poppy for him every year at the Royal Navy Memorial at Chatham where he is commemorated.

RN Subs

Featured Badge

Sealion (N 72)

Class:	1935 - 1970: Improved S Class
Built By:	Cammell Laird (Mersey)
Build Group:	S2
Fate:
Used as Anti-submarine target off Isle of Arran, 3rd March 1945.

Part of the military documentary series examining each aspect of the armed forces.

This volume looks at the history and role of the submarine in the modern navy. Starting out as experimental oddities in the American Civil War, the most advanced submarines in the present day hold a crew of several hundred, can remain at sea for a year at a time, and are capable of launching dozens of thermonuclear missles at any spot in the world.

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